There are many surgical procedures that require a surgical instrument to be introduced into an orifice of a body. One example of such is a surgical procedure to resect a cancerous or anomalous tissue from a gastro-intestinal tract by the introduction, e.g., insertion, of a circular stapling instrument via a patient's oral or anal cavity.
One of the problems experienced during surgical procedures of this type is that the orifice of the body may be damaged when the surgical instrument is being introduced, or has been introduced, into the orifice. This is particularly problematic when the orifice into which the surgical device is being introduced includes fragile tissue that is easily damaged when contacted, e.g., the tissues of the oral cavity. Another problem experienced during surgical procedures of this type is that the surgical instrument may be damaged when the surgical instrument is being introduced, or has been introduced, into the orifice. It may be particularly important to avoid damage to the surgical device, since a patient may also be harmed if the surgical device functions improperly.
While significant advances have been made in miniaturizing surgical instruments, there are still many surgical instruments that are almost as large as, the same size as, or larger than, the size of the orifice into which the surgical instrument is required to be introduced. Since the likelihood of damaging either the orifice or the surgical device may be increased as the size of the surgical device increases relative to the size of the orifice into which the surgical instrument is required to be introduced, conventional surgical devices and procedures still risk damage to one or both of the surgical device and the orifice.
Thus, there is a need for a device that minimizes the likelihood of damage to one or both of a surgical device and an orifice when the surgical device is introduced into the orifice.